Saturday, August 22, 2009

One of the questions you all asked was "What do you do about gifts?" And it just so happens that my daughter had a birthday to attend this weekend so I managed to take some pictures of a typical gift.

Usually when we give birthday presents outside of our own four kids we set a budget of $10 - $20 per gift, depending on how elastic our budget is for that week. This week it was $10.

Throughout the year I store up gift wrapping supplies. I have a drawer full of ribbon that I've salvaged from gifts I've received as well as garage sales and thrift stores.

I also collect tins and pretty containers or unique boxes. And under my bed I have two boxes that store gift bags of all sizes and shapes, tissue paper, bows and curling ribbon from gifts I've received.

Today's gift was for my daughters friend who is turning 13. (Vangie if your reading this just look away, girl!) Lately she's into nail polish so we picked four colors that we though she'd like, a bottle of remover, a cute little container of cotton remover pads, a chocolate bar and her favorite candy...sour patch kids.

I used a cute little green pail that someone had given to me, added some brown tissue paper because Camouflage is one of her favorite patterns, and put the gifts inside. We finished it off with a green ribbon and Ta Da!

That is too cute!! And I happen to like those sorts of gifts. Back 11 years ago when I married my ex one of my favorite gifts was a laundry basket full of little things we would need around the house.. can opener, dish towels, hammer, nails, aluminum foil, etc... It was so fun digging through and seeing what it was!! :)

While, I am here.. I was wondering if you could give me (and the readers) some advice... :) I need some ideas on losing weight ona strict budget. And I dont eat much meat... :) I may have missed it but is there a post about frugal weight loss on here?

That is so cute and creative! We try to be as creative as we can with birthday gifts, too. They can wreck a budget if you are not careful! My son is 4 and he had two parties this summer. We went to the dollar store and I let him pick out 3 or 4 little gifts for his friends. Those gift were the hit of the party! The parents who had spent lots of money on gifts were so jealous!

One of my favorite things about this post is that you're really teaching your kids to be good gift givers. It's not how much you spend, but finding something that the recipient will really like (like choosing the nail polish set).

Gayle....I LOVE this idea! I am already thinking ahead to Christmas, and have begun making some crocheted or knitted dish rags. I am also taking clean, vintage sheets from Goodwill and making aprons. I have also found some really nice all cotton shower curtains that will be cut up for cotton dish cloths. LOTS of handmade this year, as there really is NO extra cash. Things are really tight here in Michigan.

What clever ideas! My 11 yr. granddaughter starts middle school next week and that would make a neat way to put together a gift for her of "light" cosmetics, like finger nail polish, lip gloss, her own bottle of perfume, hand cream,etc. She's been trying her hand at cooking this summer and I gave her my 5 ingredients or less Fix-it-and-forget it crockpot cook book yesterday. Will be interesting to see what she tries to make this week.

My daughter put together a gift at the dollar store that was a bear and a box of gummy bears. Her friend loved it. Also tiny boxes of nerd candy with a dollar wraped around each box. (My daughter recieved 11 tiny nerd candy with a dollar wrapped around each and a ribbon. She turned 11.)

Thanks for not just sharing a wonderful gift idea but also ways to organise storage for ribbons etc collected over time!I really believe that gifts that have been put together like yours had for the recipient show such love, care and friendship.Loved the post - thank you.